TY - JOUR

T1 - The Origins of Legitimation Strategies in International Organizations

T2 - Agents, Audiences and Environments

AU - Lenz, Tobias

AU - Söderbaum, Fredrik

N1 - Funding Information: This article is an introduction to a special section in the May 2023 issue of International Affairs on ‘Legitimizing international organizations’, guest-edited by Tobias Lenz and Fredrik Söderbaum. Previous versions of the article were presented at several preparatory workshops as well as at the International Studies Association Annual Conference in Montréal, March 2023. We thank the contributors to this special section as well as Lisa Dellmuth, Anne Roemer-Mahler and Jonas Tallberg for extensive discussions and specific feedback. Thanks for very useful comments is also due to the journal's three anonymous reviewers. Tobias Lenz gratefully acknowledges funding from the Leibniz Association (grant number J31/2017). Publisher Copyright: © 2023 The Author(s). Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of The Royal Institute of International Affairs.

PY - 2023/5/1

Y1 - 2023/5/1

N2 - How do international organizations (IOs) claim legitimacy, and why do they do so in different ways? Confronted with contestation and critique, IOs seek to enhance audiences' beliefs in their legitimacy by justifying their governance competence through public communication and the change of institutions and behaviour. This article serves as an introduction to a special section on 'Legitimizing international organizations'. It theorizes the origins of IOs' legitimation strategies and outlines the analytical framework for the special section. We propose the agents-audiences-environment (AAE) framework, which synthesizes diverse literatures on organizational legitimation. While existing literature focuses on audiencesapos; normative demands as a key source of legitimation strategies, we supplement this perspective with ones that consider IO agents' normative beliefs and the norms institutionalized in peer organizations. In this introduction, we first clarify what is at stake in the debate over IO legitimation. We then explain the benefits of shifting perspective from audience beliefs to the origins of IO legitimation. Thereafter, we define the main concepts and develop our AAE-framework. We conclude by summarizing how our contributors use the AAE-framework to advance our understanding of IO legitimation.

AB - How do international organizations (IOs) claim legitimacy, and why do they do so in different ways? Confronted with contestation and critique, IOs seek to enhance audiences' beliefs in their legitimacy by justifying their governance competence through public communication and the change of institutions and behaviour. This article serves as an introduction to a special section on 'Legitimizing international organizations'. It theorizes the origins of IOs' legitimation strategies and outlines the analytical framework for the special section. We propose the agents-audiences-environment (AAE) framework, which synthesizes diverse literatures on organizational legitimation. While existing literature focuses on audiencesapos; normative demands as a key source of legitimation strategies, we supplement this perspective with ones that consider IO agents' normative beliefs and the norms institutionalized in peer organizations. In this introduction, we first clarify what is at stake in the debate over IO legitimation. We then explain the benefits of shifting perspective from audience beliefs to the origins of IO legitimation. Thereafter, we define the main concepts and develop our AAE-framework. We conclude by summarizing how our contributors use the AAE-framework to advance our understanding of IO legitimation.

KW - Politics

KW - Legitimacy

KW - global governance

KW - international organization

KW - legitimation

KW - liberal international order

KW - regional organization

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85161345186&partnerID=8YFLogxK

UR - https://www.mendeley.com/catalogue/1c719c15-f246-3fb7-9803-9a0ee8525a0d/

U2 - 10.1093/ia/iiad110

DO - 10.1093/ia/iiad110

M3 - Journal articles

VL - 99

SP - 899

EP - 920

JO - International Affairs

JF - International Affairs

SN - 0020-5850

IS - 3

ER -